detail information

Positive:

• Very good write quality with CD-R media
• Excellent write quality with most DVD±R/RW media
• Supports DVD+RW/-RW at 8x/6x
• Supports DVD+R DL/-R DL at 8x/8x writing speed
• Supports DVD-RAM read/write at 5x
• Can write DVD±R/DL media at higher than its rated speed
• Supports 32x CD-RW writing speed
• Supports auto Bitsetting for DVD+R DL (BookType to DVD-ROM)
• Can read Pressed DVD-ROM/DVD-Video SL/DL at 16x/12x
• 'Two Sheep" writer
• Very good build quality
• Supports DAO-RAW writing
• Supports Mini DVD-R discs

Negative:

• Read speed is locked at 12x/8x for DVD±R/RW media
• Write quality on Ultra Speed CD-RW media could be improved
• Media compatibility on DVD±R media could be improved
• Media compatibility on CD-R media could be improved
• Single coloured LED for read/write
• Does not support Bitsetting on DVD+R/RW (BookType to DVD-ROM)
• Not a lead free product

Conclusion:

Let us summarize the most important positive and negative points below:

The main positive points: The Pioneer DVR-111 can produce excellent quality burns on DVD±R media. Every one of our tested media had a perfect read-back curve and our KProbe scans demonstrated how well the media had been written.

The Pioneer DVR-111 was also able to burn CD-R media with very good quality, again our KProbe scans showing us how well the media had been written.

The Pioneer DVR-111 can also read and write DVD-RAM media, thus covering all common media types currently available. The Pioneer DVR-111 was also able to write this media using a fast 5x CLV writing method.

The Pioneer DVR-111 during this review proved to be a fairly quiet and unobtrusive drive. The drive also run very cool, which may be important if the drive is housed in a cramped PC case, or used in a hot climate.

The build quality of the Pioneer was also of a very high standard, with solid construction and smooth operating media drawer.

The main negative points:  There are not that many negative things to say about the Pioneer DVR-111. Media compatibility with CD-R and DVD±R could be better. Many of our 16x rated media was only burned at 12x. Having said that, the media that did burn at 12x did burn with excellent quality, so perhaps this was a wise decision on Pioneer's part, and I would chose quality over speed every time.

The Pioneer DVR-111 reading performance could be better, although the drive performed well enough in our tests. We would like to see DVD±R media being read at 16x and DVD±RW media being read at 12x, instead of the present DVD±R/RW 12x/8x

We would also like to see some improvements in writing quality when burning 'Ultra speed" CD-RW media. This at present is one weak point with the Pioneer DVR-111.

To sum it all up: Although some areas of the drive need some improvement, the Pioneer DVR-111 is an excellent writer for DVD±R media, and produced some of the best quality burns we have seen here in CDFreaks labs. With this in mind we decided to award the Pioneer DVR-111 our CDFreaks 'safe buy" award.

By using our price grabber feature cdfreaks.pricegrabber we were unable to locate a listed price for the Pioneer DVR-111, however we found one UK online retailer had the drive listed for £30.98 UK pounds including VAT (April 2006). 

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Thanks to:

Bell Technology spol s.r.o. - Czech Republic for providing the media used in this review.

SVP Communications - The United Kingdom for providing the media used in this review.

Conrexx Technology B.V./RITEK Europe - The Netherlands for providing the media used in this review.

Medea International - United Kingdom for providing the Infiniti and HP media used in this review

 Plextor SA/NV (B) for providing the Plextor media used in this review.

Ricoh Europe - For providing the media used in this review.

E-Net Distribution - United Kingdom for providing the media used in this review.

Verbatim - Germany and United Kingdom for providing the media used in this review.

For providing the Memorex media used in this review. Memorex is one of the largest providers of all types of media for larger parts of the world.

Daxon (Taiwan) for providing the Daxon media used in this review.